It is a gift to golf in the US that an Alister MacKenzie course is as accessible as it is at Pasatiempo. This is a course worthy of a visit if life takes you through the Bay Area and you have the time.

Most notable were the beautiful greenside bunkers that were cleaned up in the most recent Doak renovation.

There were a few greens (most notably based on the experience of my group) three and sixteen that were very, very difficult.

Like all top 100 courses the holes were varied and interesting and without a dud.

I liked the 7th hole (featured below) which was short but tricky because of the narrow tree lined fairway.

It is said that that 16th hole is MacKenzie’s favorite design of all his courses. There’s an uphill fairway that if you can get to the top of with your drive releases the ball down a chute about 75 yards past where it would normally land. Pretty cool (if you hit a good drive on the hole!).

This is a good place for any golf architecture nerd like me to check out.

Here are a few other photos: